H - 08 Differences in the Predictive Validity of Social Determinants of Health and all-Cause Dementia Risk in Hispanic Americans.

Abstract

Hispanics and Latinos are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S. This fact, coupled by their increased risk of developing a dementia, underscores the importance of research investigating methods to ameliorate this risk. The purpose of this study was to investigate if common social determinants of health (SDOH) associated with dementia risk were similarly predictive of cognitive decline with Mexican American clients compared to non-Hispanic White clients. Participants (M age = 65.98; 61.5% female) were non-Hispanic White (n = 1063) and Mexican American (n = 1061) community members participating in the Health and Aging Brain Study: Health Disparities study. The majority (77.9%) of participants were determined by diagnostic consensus to have normal cognition. Information gathered included SDOH factors-income, attained education level, social support, and physical exercise-in addition to information relating to informant-reported cognitive and functional impairment (CDR). Although higher levels of social support and income were related to less cognitive and functional impairment across participants, more physical exercise (β= -0.09, p = 0.006) was only predictive of less impairment for non-Hispanic White participants. Further, more attained education level (β= -0.08, p = 0.018) was only predictive of less impairment for Mexican American individuals. Our findings suggest that some SDOHs, specifically exercise and educational level, differentially predict cognitive and functional impairment between Mexican American and non-Hispanic White individuals. Future studies should investigate aspects of these variables (e.g., quality of education, type of exercise, etc.) that best protect from cognitive and functional impairment.